CBA professor Fiona Nah is bringing new life to her research and teaching. She's bringing 'SecondLife' - the virtual world which allows individuals to create instructional content in a new innovative online environment.

Nah has been a major advocate for bringing SecondLife to UNL and while the program is still in its infancy at our institution that hasn't stopped Nah from getting started. Nah has begun partnering with instructors at Wright State University and Iowa State University to set up virtual projects that CBA students can also use.

SecondLife allows students to enter a virtual world using an animated character of themselves which they create. The character can then move through the virtual world learning business management concepts via audio, animation, movies, interactive activities, and more.

For instance, one fairly extensive project that Nah has used for her MNGT 350 class is a virtual tour of the so-called 'hospital of the future' - the Palomar Medical Center in Escondido, California. The tour takes students through a virtual hospital setting to teach them how management and IT policies are positively influencing patient care through better security, comfort, and treatment practices.

Students also build team projects in SecondLife to demonstrate their understanding of management principles. This semester Nah's graduate students will focus on building projects with Management Information System themes.

Although a quick look at SecondLife might give someone more an impression of a game than a classroom, Nah has found that students involvement with the program has been a success in terms of capturing their imagination. Although Nah has only scratched the surface of what might eventually be done with SecondLife in the classroom the possibilities for future development are already taking hold here at the UNL College of Business.